Take a Breath(89)

My head is screaming at me at this point. He just told me he loved me. Those precious three words I have been longing to hear for what seems like a lifetime, and I’m fucking sleeping. Wake up, goddammit! Just fucking wake up already.

I’m willing my body to move and my eyes open, but soon the blackness takes over me again, my body giving up.





Light is hurting my eyes. I try to open one and realise that I can. I look around the room feeling disorientated and blurry. I manage to open the other eye and see a fan above my head moving. I can hear the gentle humming sound as it goes around.

To the left I see a window, the sun shining brightly through it. I move my head and it is then I notice how painful my throat feels. My hand goes around my throat as I try to rub it, but that’s sore also. It is then I realise I can feel a weight on my chest. I look down and find the back of Jake’s head and I realise he must be asleep. I stroke his hair and try to speak. I manage to whisper, “I love you too, Jake,” when he stirs.

“What?” he says, half asleep.

“Jake, I love you too.”

The pain to talk is excruciating, but I have to get those words out. I need him to know that I do love him. I have always loved him.

He turns to face me, startled and I notice then his unshaven state. He looks exhausted but still somehow manages to be as sexy as hell with it. It makes me sick.

“Ana, oh thank God you’re awake. I never thought you would—”

He scrambles up to get a doctor, opening the door he screams at someone to come in. A lovely nurse steps in with shiny brown hair and starts to take my vitals.

“I’m Betty, how are you feeling this morning?”

I try to shake my head and I point to my throat. “It feels sore,” I manage to whisper.

“It will do for a while, that’s natural. You made a lot of people scared, but you pulled through. You’re a fighter, Miss Sinclair. We’ll have you up and running around the ward in no time.”

I try a smile but it hurts. “Water,” I whisper.

“Try not to talk too much, Ana. You need your rest.”

She pours me a glass bringing the cup to my mouth, and I try to sip. The pain evident in my face once I swallow. I motion to the nurse that I want a pen and paper. She nods and heads out the door.

Jake sinks down into the chair next to me and grabs my hand.

“I was so scared when I realised you were gone. I don’t know what I would have done if we hadn’t have found you when we did.”

The nurse comes back in and I free my hand to grab the pen, eager to write down the words I have been longing to tell him.

‘I Love you Jake ‘Caveman’ Bennett.’

I turn the paper over so Jake can see, he smiles and lets out a chuckle. He strokes my cheek.

“I love you too, Ana ‘insubordinate’ Sinclair.”

A tear falls down my cheek and the nurse looks on with glassy-eyed endearment.

“I’m going to leave you two for a few minutes. I will let the doctor know now that you’re awake, but I think I can safely say that you’re well on the way to the road to recovery.”

Jake thanks her and she leaves. I grab my pen and write. ‘What happened? How did you find me?’

Jake lets out a deep breath and looks to my watch and starts playing with it.

“This watch is what saved your life. I know you’ll be angry with me, Ana. The watch means more, I swear, but I didn’t want you to know.”

He closes his eyes briefly like he’s trying hard to think what he can say. “I bought the watch for you that Sunday when I saw that poor woman and what that bastard Tony had done to her.”

Tony, I suddenly wondered where he was and what happened to him.

“I took the watch into work where I got a tracking device installed. I’m sorry I did that, Ana, but I’m not sorry. It was how we found you, otherwise I dread to think how long it would have been if we hadn’t. Anyway, when I quickly realised that the call to the FBI was a false alarm, I went fucking wild with worry. I tried to call you a bunch of times but you didn’t answer, and then I called the house but Matthew told me he saw you leave in a car with Tony. That’s when I knew something wasn’t right. I called a team with me and we tracked you to this little location in Chesterfield. We got to the house and we knew you were very close. We had a quick sweep and then made our way into the forest. We saw the little house up ahead and decided to check in there. When we got to that bedroom and I saw him, what he was doing—”

He stopped, anger rising through his body as he went rigid. I stroked his hair to try and calm him. He smiles and relaxes a little.

“We shout at him to move, but he is fixed on you. He’s like a wild animal. I’ve never seen that side to Tony before. I was so frightened I was going to lose you. I took a shot at him and it hits him in the neck. He came running over to me like a wild animal ready to attack, but I manage to get another shot to the chest. He’s gone now, Ana. You never have to worry about him again. It’s all over now. You’re safe.”